Monday, February 6, 2017

MYSTERIOUS DANIEL LAMONT

Daniel Lamont.

Cortland Evening Standard, Monday,
November 20, 1893.

MYSTERIOUS
LAMONT.

The Most
Exclusive Member of Cleveland's Cabinet—An Intensely

Practical
Man.

You would not expect that the most exclusive
member of the cabinet would be the man who once sold newspapers upon the
streets of the capital city of New York. But such is the case. Secretary Lamont
is the most exclusive member of Mr. Cleveland's cabinet. He even out-Endicotts
Endicott. It is harder to get an opportunity to see Secretary Lamont than it is
any other cabinet officer. You can walk without reserve into Gresham's room and
be sure of a hearty western greeting; you can gossip with Carlisle over persons
and things; but you can do none of these things with Lamont. There is a
covering of reserve about him that it is impossible to break through. He has a
combined air of business and mystery that makes familiarity a stranger.

He always has the appearance of a man who is
too busy to talk with you, and who regards you as wasting every moment of his
time during the while you are with him. He has been the confidential man of so
many prominent men—Tilden, Cleveland and the rest— and so accustomed to keep
their secrets locked up fast in his breast, he has repressed his feelings so
long in his efforts to be studiously diplomatic, that natural cordiality he has
lost.

Lamont is in his office less time than any
member of the cabinet. He is not so much of a cabinet officer as Mr.
Cleveland's confidential adviser. He never was more thoroughly the president's
private secretary than he is to-day. He does the private secretary's thinking,
while Mr. Thurber holds the position and attends to the routine. Thurber is the
clerk and Lamont the secretary. Whenever there is a question in the president's
mind as to what should be done, it is to "Dan" that he turns for
advice, and "Dan" is always ready with a solution.

Lamont is the politician of the
administration, and his real title is secretary of politics and expediency. He
was put into the cabinet for this purpose. This is why he refused to be
postmaster-general. That office would require too much attention; he preferred
the war portfolio, for in that department matters drift along easily and
quietly and practically run themselves. He is a good executive officer, that he
has shown and is showing, but above all he is a politician. All his life has
been devoted to politics, and he was a politician as soon as it was possible
for him to be one. His father's store at the cross-roads in New York state was
his primary political school, and a good one it proved. At 20 years of age
Lamont was sitting side by side with Tilden in that famous Rochester Democratic
convention and helping the Democratic chieftain to cut the Tweed cancer out of
the Democratic party.

He carries his exclusiveness into his private
life. He lives at the Arlington, but is seldom seen either in the office or the
public diningroom. He takes his meals in his own rooms, and keeps by himself
through most of the day. He is the one person to whom the door of the White
House is never shut and whom the president is never too busy to see. He is in
daily conference with Mr. Cleveland. He does not care for society, and goes out
only for the sake of his wife. He reads books much but he is fondest of
newspapers, and retains the ability of a journalist to read all the papers
without performing the work of actually reading one.

He uses neither tobacco nor liquor, no matter
what the occasion. On one occasion he said all his people were Presbyterians, and
that he was brought up in that faith. "And do you attend a Presbyterian
church in town?" he was asked. "My wife does," said he, an
answer that was the fruit of 20 years' training in politics. In everything
except in abundant humor he is an intensely practical man, who looks upon the
world as a workshop in which he has enough to do to keep him busy all his life.
And in politics he is no less practical than in all things else. And he is also
the exclusive man of Mr. Cleveland's second cabinet, this young secretary of
war.—New York Commercial Advertiser.

Oliver Curtis Perry.

PERRY DIDN'T ESCAPE.

THE
DARING TRAIN ROBBER FOILED IN ONE MORE ATTEMPT.

With the
Handle of a Spoon He Dug Out of the Wall of His Cell and But for the Timely
Discovery of the Officials Might Now be at Liberty.

Oliver Curtis Perry, the desperado, was foiled
in an attempt to escape from Auburn prison, Thursday, says the Bulletin.

Perry, since his five days' confinement in
the prison jail a few weeks ago for refusing to leave his cell until a stream from
a hose was turned on him, has been confined in a cell in the north basement,
being allowed to go to the bucket grounds each day.

Back of the tier in which is Perry's cell is
another tier in the cells of which are confined men who are working in the
shops with a wall of stone between the tiers.

To dig through this wall was the attempt
Perry made and he had undoubtedly worked industriously for several days as the
only instrument he had was the broken handle of a spoon.

When Perry was taken to the bucket grounds
Thursday the prison officials discovered that the mortar had been skillfully
removed from a portion of the stone wall forming the back of Perry's cell and a
few hours' more of labor would have allowed the daring train robber to leave
his own cell and enter that of the convict back of him.

Perry cursed his luck when he found that his
plot had been discovered and vowed that he would yet beat the prison.

Had he succeeded in removing the stone in
the daytime, entrance into the other convict's cell would have been easy and,
that convict being at work and his cell door unlocked, the train robber could
easily have secreted himself and awaited a favorable opportunity for escape. He
is now in a place from which he cannot dig his way out.

The prison officials tried to keep the escapade
a secret but it leaked out. When a Bulletin reporter called at the prison
Warden Stout was very reticent and would say nothing about the affair.

THE LEHIGH STRIKE.

MANY OF
THE OPERATORS JOIN THE TRAINMEN.

Passenger
Trains Still Moving—Officials at Many Points Taken by Surprise by the
Strike—Reading Employes May Be Called On by the Lehigh—Situation So Far in
Favor of the Strikers—A General Tie-Up Threatened.

SAYRE, Pa., Nov. 29.—The much talked of
strike on the Lehigh system went into effect at 10 o'clock Saturday night.
Orders have been issued by the men that no trains shall be made up or pulled
out on the main track. The up trains will be discontinued here, and no more
trains, either passenger or freight, will start or be allowed to go through.

What Mr.
Voorhees Says.

PHILADELPHIA, NOV. 20. — Reports received by
the general grievance committee at the Bingham House indicate that the Lehigh
Valley road strike is of a much graver nature than the road officials are willing
to acknowledge. Vice-President Theodore Voorhees, who was seen at his home,
said to a representative of the Associated Press that his information was to the
effect that all trains on the road were moving. The only desertion from the ranks
of the employes [sic] so far as he had learned were two telegraph operators, several
firemen and one or two engineers.

The small number of men who had quit on
account of the refusal of the company to reinstate a discharged operator had
not hampered the road to any considerable degree.

When questioned as to the alleged omission of
certain clauses or paragraphs in his official bulletin, posted along the line last
summer, which is said to have stated the company would respect certain alleged rights
of the employes, he denied the assertions in the most emphatic manner.

"Tell Mr. Wilkins, with my
compliments," he said, "that he lies when he says any such omissions
have been made. To prove what I say I have documentary evidence in my office
which will bear me out in my statements. We do not apprehend much [of] any
trouble now on as it does not appear to be much of a strike as one might be led
to believe from the manner in which the men have acted."

When Chief Wilkins, who is chairman of the
grievance committee, was informed of Vice-President Voorhees' statements, he
said: "We also have documentary evidence to sustain us in our statements,
and will say further that I most heartily return the compliment of Mr. Voorhees
which he has transmitted to me. Never at any time have we asked the
reinstatement of Mr. Hughes, the discharged operator, but when he (Voorhees)
was asked to receive the committee, he exclaimed: 'Ask me to do anything in
reason, but do not ask the company to back down from the stand it has taken.'"

"He don't want the company to back down,
but he does want us to do so. Well, we won't. We are in the field to stay and will
win it for the men. They failed to have the promises made by the company fulfilled,
and came to the grand officers as a last resort to assist them."

Said Assistant Grand Chief Youngson, who is
the personal representative of Grand
Chief Arthur of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers: "And we intend to
help them all we can."

Nothing
but Mail Trains Moving.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Nov. 20.— Since 10 o'clock
Saturday night, not a single freight or coal train has passed over the Wyoming
division of the Lehigh Valley road, and if the strikers are to be believed none
will pass over until their grievances are adjusted. The strikers are not interfering
with the running of mail trains, but they object to the company attaching passenger
cars to such trains. Last evening when the Philadelphia Flyer pulled into the
depot, she was not allowed to depart on her western trip until the passenger cars
were detached.

Nothing
Moving at Sayre.

ELMIRA, N. Y., Nev. 20.—All the Lehigh trains
that have reached Sayre since 12 o'clock Saturday night have been abandoned and
the yards are now filled with cars. The crews have simply deserted their
trains, and the strike includes engineers, firemen, conductors, brakemen and telegraph
operators. It is a mammoth tie-up. At Sayre there has been great excitement, and
500 strikers have hung about the tracks all day.

Two passenger trains were got through yesterday,
but the strikers say they are the last that will run over the road until the
trouble is settled.

There is much perishable freight now in the
yards and the other roads refuse to assist the Lehigh by helping it.

No violence has yet been offered and all is
quiet.

AN
INTERESTING EPISTLE.

Wilson,
the Horse Thief, Writes to Sheriff Miller.

Sheriff Miller received a letter from Charles
B. Wilson, who was sent in September to Auburn prison for one year for running
off with a team of horses at Homer and selling them at McGrawville, and who was
arrested last February by Sheriff Miller at Marathon. He will be remembered by
many, who had occasion to pass the jail last summer, as being of a sandy
complexion, red mustache, and was given considerable liberty, was allowed to
sprinkle the lawn, wash the wagon, etc. His most prominent feature was a pair
of gold bowed spectacles, which he always wore.

In his letter to Sheriff Miller be sent his
best regards to inquiring friends and said he was as happy as he could be in that
place. He claims to have been converted at one of the Sunday afternoon meetings
at the jail, said he was endeavoring to live a Christian life and when he got
out he intended to be a man. He then devoted a half page to a list of articles
which he wanted the sheriff to send him. He sent his regards to the sheriff and
the judge, the prison was not as bad as he thought it would be, he was getting
along O. K. and stated that the warden and officials were very kind men and
that he was working in the mill room, polishing hammers. He thanked the sheriff
for his kindness and said that he would pay him some day. He signed himself, "Your
Homble Survent, Charles B. Wilson, No. 23,359, Auburn prison."

BREVITIES.

—"A little learning is a dangerous thing,"
but it's a good deal more dangerous to know it all.

—Mr. W. F. Clark is building a large bay
window on the south side of his house on North Church-st.

—There will be a meeting of the new Chautauqua
circle at the residence of Rev. W. H. Pound, 8 Greenbush-st., at 7:30 to-night.

—The Clover club issued to-day about one
hundred fifty invitations to their party to be held in Wells hall Thanksgiving
night.

—The Cornell university football team was on
Saturday beaten by the team of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia
by a score of 50 to 0.

—Rev. J. J. Cowles of McGrawville addressed
a large and appreciative body of young men at the Y. M. C. A. rooms yesterday
afternoon at 4 o'clock.

—The mothers' meeting (north) will be held
at the home of Mrs. F. Fenner, 45 Madison-ave., Wednesday, Nov. 22, at 2:30 P.
M. Subject, "Character Building." All ladies are cordially invited.

—Frank Johnson, a vagrant, applied to the
jail last night for lodging. He was taken in out of the snow, given a warm cell
during the night and was discharged by Justice Bull this morning.

—The Ladies' Guild of Grace church will
serve a chicken-pie supper at the residence of Mrs. S. M. Benjamin on West
Court-st. on Tuesday evening of this week. Supper will be served at 6 o'clock.
All are cordially invited.

—The health commissioners of Minnesota have
prohibited the exchange of lead pencils among the school children. They say
that diphtheria and other diseases are often transmitted by putting the pencil
in the mouth, which is a very common habit, not only with children, but adults.

—"My boy, are you one of the Fresh Air
children?" asked a lady of Cortland, N. Y., of one of the little fellows from
New York who was enjoying a few days in the country at the expense of Life's
blessed fund. "Well," he replied, "not so very d—d fresh."—Once a Month.

—Will H. Powers' funny comedy, "An
Irishman's Luck," with Steve Maley as Dennis McDowd, was played to a fair-sized
audience at the Opera House Saturday night, and proved to be one of the funniest
comedy shows ever seen here. Maley is great, the company is a good one, and the
specialties are all up to date, and were encored repeatedly.

—Since the advent of the Intermediate News
at the Normal two more newspapers have sprung into existence in the intermediate
department. They are known as the Intermediate
Hustler and the Intermediate Echo.
Each has its individual board of editors and each is complete in every
department of news. The illustrations in both papers are specially worthy of
mention.

—Mr. D. C. McGraw, who suffered a shock of
paralysis in Cortland early in the past week, and who was taken to his home in
Binghamton on Thursday, died there last night, at the age of seventy years. The
remains will be brought to Cortland on the 4:20 train Tuesday afternoon for
burial in the Rural cemetery. Deceased was a brother of Messrs. M. H. and L. H.
McGraw of Cortland. A delegation from Cortlandville lodge, No. 47, F. & A.
M., will escort the funeral cortege from the D., L. & W. depot to the grave
in Rural cemetery.